Victim loses $1000 to cartel scam

By Greg Collier

While it’s been a while, we’ve discussed the cartel scam before. Previously with this scam, scammers text their victims claiming to be part of a crime cartel from Mexico. They threaten their victims and the victims’ families with violence if they don’t pay money to the scammers. This is often followed up with violent images texted to the victims, with the scammers claiming this was the last person who didn’t pay. While many of us would deduce that this was a scam, what if we had family that lived on the border?

A Dallas, Texas man recently received a text from someone claiming to be part of a cartel. The text said that the man owed them money and if he didn’t pay them, they were going to hurt him and his family. The man texted them back saying that he had no idea what they were talking about. The scammers called the man and listed the names of the man’s family members they were going to harm. The man’s family happened to live in El Paso, Texas, which is right across the border from Juarez, Mexico. Juarez is where many of the infamous crime cartels operate out of. The man paid the scammers $1000 before contacting Dallas police, who told him it was a scam. We can’t say we blame the man for falling victim to this scam.

This is part of the reason why we say that anyone can fall for a scam. There is a set of circumstances where anyone could fall prey to a scammer.

As far as this scam goes, if you receive text like this, do not respond to it. Instead, you should contact your local police department. Then contact your family members to make sure they’re ok. You should also limit what you share on social media, as that’s how scammers are able to obtain such in-depth information about their victims and their families.